The uniqueness of PET for imaging molecular interactions and pathways in-vivo will be demonstrated along with examples of what has been achieved to date in methodological developments and applications. Examples will be given of the projected future applications of PET that would realise its full potential in clinical research and health care. Here the challenges in bioengineering would be to provide for a more rapid development of PET based imaging biomarkers and the technology for low cost production of radio labelled biomarkers. The challenges in medical physics are seen to be in the exploitation of combined PET/MRI and the development and applications of a total body PET scanner with an active axial length of 2 metres.

Terry Jones’s current affiliations:

Visiting professor at The University of California, Davis and The PET Research Advisory Company.
Formerly at the Medical Research Council’s Cyclotron Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital Imperial College Campus and the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre at the University of Manchester.